A light emitting diode (LED) is one of light emitting elements that emit light when a current is supplied thereto. LEDs can emit light having high efficiency at a low voltage and thus have a high energy saving effect. Recently, a problem with the luminance of LEDs has been significantly addressed, and LEDs are being applied in various devices such as backlight units of liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, electronic sign boards, indicators, home appliances, and the like.
LEDs may have a structure in which a first electrode and a second electrode are disposed on one side of a light emitting structure including a first conductive semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductive semiconductor layer. However, when electrostatic discharge (ESD) occurs, a current may flow in a reverse direction, thereby damaging the active layer in which light is generated.
In order to address this problem, a method of mounting a device, such as a Zener diode, a varistor, a transient voltage suppression (TVS) device, or the like, during packaging of a light emitting device has been proposed. In this case, however, since a process of mounting the device is further added and the device absorbs light emitted from the light emitting device, a problem of lowering the light emitting output of the light emitting device occurs.